MasterCard Launches Digital Wallet Service in Canada

The company has officially launched its MasterPass wallet product; the U.S. roll out is expected later in the spring.

MasterCard today announced the launch of its MasterPass digital wallet in Canada -- the first North American market the product will be available in.

MasterPass, which was unveiled in February at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, is enabled to make purchases at the point of sale, online or on the phone. For POS transactions, it supports the use of NFC and QR codes. For online purchases, MasterPass eliminates the need to enter detailed shipping and card information with every purchase -- that information is entered once and subsequent orders can be made via a streamlined checkout process.

MasterPass also allows banks and merchants the ability to offer their own wallets to consumers that are tied into MasterPass, the company said, and consumers can also load up to 25 MasterCard and other branded credit, prepaid or branded debit cards, excluding Interac debit cards, onto the wallet.

According to MasterCard, Canadian e-commerce sales are growing rapidly compared to the overall growth in retail sales in the county, making it an ideal market to launch MasterPass.

“Canadians are early adopters when it comes to digital payments and embracing new technologies; that’s why Canada is the first market in North America where we’re launching MasterPass,” said Jason Davies, Vice President of eCommerce at MasterCard Canada, in a written statement.

The product is expected to be launched in the United States and the United Kingdom later in the spring and summer, respectively.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio